falsehood, and the guidance of divine enablement, which moves a person to accept the truth and act upon it—affirming the reports and complying with the commands. This is an exclusive favor that Allah bestows on whomever He wills among His servants.
People, with respect to guidance, divide into three groups:
- Those who have been granted both kinds of guidance: Allah has given them knowledge of the truth and enabled them to embrace it.
- Those who have been deprived of both kinds: they possess neither knowledge nor worship.
- Those who have been guided by indication and instruction but were not granted enabling guidance. This is the worst category—may Allah protect us.
The crucial point is that Allah, exalted is He, says: “kullukum ḍāll (all of you are astray),” that is, none of you knows—or none of you accepts—the truth, “except the one I guide. fa-stahdūnī ahdikum (So seek guidance from Me and I will guide you).” In other words, ask Me for guidance; when you do so I will answer you and lead you to the truth. Hence the phrase “fa-stahdūnī ahdikum” functions like a conditional: the result is guaranteed once the condition is fulfilled. This is confirmed by the verb’s jussive form in “fa-stahdūnī ahdikum.” Therefore, whenever you seek guidance from Allah with sincerity, a sense of need, and persistent supplication, He will guide you.
Most of us, however, turn away from this reality. We perform acts of worship out of habit, following what people do, as though we were not in desperate need of Allah’s guidance. What befits us is to keep asking Allah for guidance. In every prayer a person says, “My Lord, forgive me, have mercy on me, and guide me,” and indeed, in every obligatory prayer he recites as a pillar of the prayer itself: “ihdinā ṣ-ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm ṣirāṭ alladhīna (Guide us to the Straight Path, the path of those…)”